Well-Child Visits

Narrative

In 2010, 79.9 percent of children under 18
years of age were reported by their parents to
have had a preventive, or "well-child," medical
visit in the past year when they were not sick
or injured. The American Academy of Pediatrics
recommends that children have eight preventive
health care visits in their first year, three in their
second year, and at least one per year from age
3 through adolescence.1 Well-child visits offer
an opportunity not only to monitor children's
health and provide immunizations, but also to
assess a child's behavior and development, discuss
nutrition, and answer parents' questions.

The proportion of children receiving well-child
visits declines with age. In 2010, 89.9 percent
of children 4 years of age and younger had
received a preventive visit in the past year, compared
to 77.4 percent of children 5–11 years of
age and 73.9 percent of children 12–17 years of
age. Among the oldest adolescents, the rate was
even lower (69.0 percent).

Receipt of preventive medical care also varies
by several other factors, including type of
insurance and race and ethnicity. In 2010, only
55.6 percent of uninsured children had received
a well-child visit in the past year, compared to
about 80 percent of those with public or private
insurance (79.4 and 83.3, respectively; data not shown in graph images or in data tables on this site). With respect to race and ethnicity,
non-Hispanic children of more than one
race and non-Hispanic Black children were
most likely to have received a well-child visit
in the past year (87.1 and 83.3 percent, respectively),
followed by non-Hispanic White (80.5
percent), non-Hispanic Asian (76.4), and Hispanic
children (75.4). Non-Hispanic American
Indian/Alaskan Native children had the lowest
reported rate of preventive care in the past year
(63.2 percent).

Information on this page can be found in the print version of Child Health USA 2012. Suggested Citation: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Child Health USA 2012. Rockville, Maryland: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013.